Dr Helen Schucman (July 14, 1909 to February 9, 1981) was a clinical and research psychologist. She held a tenured position of Associate Professor of Medical Psychology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at the Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center in New York City. It was there that she met William N Thetford, who was the head of the Center’s Psychology Department.

In 1965 after practicing meditation Schucman began to have vivid experiences and she claimed ‘an inner voice’ had made contact with her. Her mother was interested in Theosophy and Christian Science so she had been exposed to spiritual doctrines as a child, but at this time of her life she professed to be an atheist. Thetford encouraged her to record her experiences and not to resist what was happening to her. On October 21, 1965, Schucman heard an inner voice that told her, ‘This is a course in miracles. Please take notes.’

Over the next seven years, Schucman recorded what the voice told her and Thetford transcribed what she recorded. The transcripts totalled 1,200 pages and are now known as A Course in Miracles.

Schucman gave herself no credit for the authorship of the text and claimed she received it as a kind of mental dictation from the voice, who identified himself as Jesus. Needless to say, A Course in Miracles has caused consternation among certain Christians who cry, ‘beware of false prophets’, and while the book is Christian in tone, much of the writing is comparable to eastern wisdom traditions.